Ricky Burns vs. Scott Cardle Added To Usyk-Bellew

The pair have been pitted together and are set to go head-to-head in a lightweight showdown on Saturday.

Burns was meant to fight on November 17, as part of the supporting cast to Jarrell Miller’s clash against Bogdan Dinu at the Kansas Star Arena in the States.

But the 50-fight veteran’s return will be brought forward by a week after Cardle’s Commonwealth title challenge against Joe Cordina was canned.

The fight will take place at Manchester Arena, exclusively live on Sky Sports Box Office and DAZN, on the undercard of Tony Bellew’s WBC, IBF, WBA Super, Ring Magazine and WBO cruiserweight title challenge against Oleksandr Usyk.

“There’s some big fights to be made in the Lightweight division and a win here in front of such a large PPV audience will put me further in the frame for next year,” said Burns, who lost to Anthony Crolla at the same venue just over a year ago. “The Manchester crowd last time out was fantastic and obviously Anthony Crolla is fighting on the bill, I’d still love that rematch down the line but first and foremost Scotty has my attention.

“I get on really well with Scotty and his family. They have helped me out with some sparring down the years but this is strictly business. It was a shame my gym mate Joe Cordina pulled out through injury but this is boxing. I’ll shake Scotty’s hand before and after the fight.”

Cardle, 29, is a former British champion who is back to winning ways since being stopped by Lewis Ritson at the O2 Arena in London back in March.

“This is a huge fight to get me back to where I want to be,” said Cardle, who is now trained by Matthew Ellis and moved to 23-2-1 with a win over Michael Mooney back in August. “Ricky is a former three-weight world champion and a Scottish great, a win against him would hopefully set up some even bigger fights down the line.

“This is a massive occasion for me, I’ve got the opportunity and now it’s time for me to deliver. I can’t turn fights like this down, especially at this stage of my career. The short notice isn’t ideal but I’ve trained hard for the Cordina fight and I’ll be ready for fight night.

“I want to reach world level before I call it a day and a win over a name like Burns could be the start of something big.”

Burns vs. Cardle joins the Usyk vs. Bellew card alongside Anthony Crolla as he takes on Daud Yordan in a final eliminator for the right to face pound-for-pound number one Vasyl Lomachenko, while David Allen will box, Sam Hyde takes on Richard Riakporhe for the vacant WBA Inter-Continental cruiserweight title and undefeated Ukrainian middleweight Dmytro Mytrofanov will see action in just his third outing in the paid code.